In recent years we have been observing an enormous growth of the eCommerce market, with the COVID-19 lockdowns being one of the most potent boosters. When people were obliged to stay at home in 2020, one of the available activities was online shopping. That’s when the industry got a fresh breath of life, though we should admit that even before the pandemic, it was steadily expanding. In such a situation, it was not surprising to see that the demand for high-quality advanced eCommerce development solutions also started growing.
But to offer users a solution that will have real value for both merchants and shoppers, you need to build a feature-rich, reliable platform that will meet the modern requirements and correspond to the current trends in eCommerce. And that’s precisely what we are going to talk about in this article. But before we proceed to the eCommerce trends that are expected to rock the market in 2022, we’d like to start with a short overview of today’s industry state.
In 2020, eCommerce sales worldwide increased to $26.7 trillion, which represented 19% of the entire volume of all retail sales. In 2019, this figure was 16%. Experts say that this growth should be attributed to the shift to online shopping under the influence of coronavirus restrictions. And it’s impossible to deny the impact of this factor. Moreover, it is also supported by the statistics. For example, the recent report showed that since the pandemic outbreak, nearly 46% of consumers in the UK at least once have ordered a product online that they used to buy in traditional shops. And we can observe similar tendencies in many regions of the world.
With the developments of modern technologies and the growing tech literacy of people, online shopping is becoming more popular and convenient. However, today there are different types of eCommerce solutions, and the competition in this market is continuously gaining momentum. In one of our previously published articles, we’ve shared some general tips on how to launch your own online shopping business and now let’s look at some technology trends in eCommerce that we can observe today.
Though some people still consider it rather “weird” to use voice assistants, the number of those who use them gradually increases. Even if we do not consider smartphones with such functionalities, the smart speaker market is projected to hit $30 billion by 2024, which is a rather impressive figure. And it is expected that already in 2022, 55% of families in the US will own a smart speaker.
As for voice search itself, it’s useless to deny its popularity. Experts have concluded that by the end of 2021 already, nearly 50% of all searches online will be done via voice requests. The reasons for this growing trend are not complicated. First, it’s faster and more convenient to voice your command instead of typing it. And as people follow this tendency, you shouldn’t ignore it for your eCommerce business.
Chatbots can significantly help you not only to enhance customer experience but also to optimize many inner processes within your company. Of course, it can be rather challenging to organize a 24/7 customer support service, especially if you have a small staff and you are just starting your business journey. However, today, customers expect to have the possibility to get the necessary support regardless of time and a day of the week.
A chatbot can help you deal with this issue in such a case. Today, an advanced chatbot can provide users with the required information and act as an AI-powered shopping assistant. According to recent statistics, nearly 20% of online shoppers are ready to make orders via chatbots. And approximately 40% of users say that they interact with chatbots for being informed about discounts and special offers.
Today, 80% of customer interaction in eCommerce is handled by AI-powered features. The range of features of this type is relatively broad: from personalized product recommendations base and preferences to innovative predictive pricing powered by ML algorithms. These tools can analyze numerous factors to change prices in real-time, including general market trends, demand, and user behaviors.
Moreover, you can apply AI features for your inner processes, such as reporting, analytics, and forecasting, for organizing supply chains and marketing purposes.
The benefits of using AI in eCommerce are long one. Just a couple of the essential points:
If you want to learn more about the role of Artificial intelligence in the eCommerce industry, we offer you to read this article.
Feeling special - that’s what consumers want today. People like unique and exclusive things and are ready to pay for them more than items that lack any personality.
You can offer your customers the possibility of creating a unique design for some products on their own or just placing their name on the item they choose. Depending on the specificity of your products, there can be different features for proving these new opportunities for clients. In some cases, this personalization won’t be appropriate (it’s rather unlikely that if you sell power tools for professionals, somebody will have a desire to write their name on an electric saw). But if your products are more suitable for that, you should take this chance.
Just imagine: over 70% of consumers admit that they are ready to place orders more often on the websites that have AR/VR features. So isn’t it an argument to think about such features for your platform?
These tools help avoid one of the disadvantages of online shopping that doesn't let you see products in a natural environment. Thanks to AR/VR, it has become possible.
Of course, users will make their buying decisions significantly faster with this possibility.
This point is one of the most critical trends in the eCommerce industry.
Today smartphones are the essential devices for many people worldwide. The times when we used our mobile phones only for communication are already in the past. Now we use them for entertainment, business purposes, studying, and shopping as well. And the number of people who make purchases from their smartphones is growing.
It is expected that by the end of 2021, mobile sales will increase by 15%. That’s why even if you are planning to launch not a mobile app but a web platform, we advise you to make it mobile-friendly.
Omnichannel commerce presupposes applying such an approach based on using multiple channels for selling goods. And the most important thing is not just to offer these several channels but also to ensure a seamless buyer experience regardless of the chosen channel (or combination of media). All the platforms (media) that you use should be connected. Yes, to speak about a truly omnichannel approach, we need to ensure the connection between your branded store, Amazon, eBay, and even Instagram if you use it.
Have you ever been in a situation when you were ready to place an order online, tried to pay for it, but something went wrong, and as a result, you left the website without buying anything? Have you ever left websites without buying if you were required to create an account or didn’t find any payment methods that would suit you?
So, to avoid such situations on your eCommerce platform, we recommend thinking seriously about the payment methods that will be offered to your clients. You should provide a good choice of secure and reliable payment options that allow users to pay quickly and easily.
With the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies, they also can be an excellent vast addition to your platform.
This concept is built around the necessity to increase customer satisfaction via providing visual content of the best quality. But today, it is essential not only to offer beautiful large images with the highest loading speed but also to diversify the formats of content you use. Interactive designs, user-generated content, videos, 360-degree images, AR-powered features - all this can work significantly to boost sales.
And the last but not the minor trend is the expanding integration of social media platforms in the online shopping processes. Today Instagram is much more than just an app where you can share pics of what you’ve just eaten, baked, or bought. It has become a good business platform as well as Facebook.
Social media platforms can become an excellent channel for companies to increase social awareness about their activities and brands and reach a vast audience. In addition, these platforms provide you with a wide range of marketing tools and help build interaction with your customers in an informal way.
That’s why it is highly recommended for each eCommerce business to think about its social media presence.
We can help you create a platform that will meet all the latest industry trends and satisfy even the most demanding clients.
As you can see, all the current trends in eCommerce are mainly aimed at facilitating the purchase process for consumers, streamlining all the processes, and making them more convenient and engaging. And that’s quite natural. Technologies should make our life easier, and namely, this principle you should bear in mind when planning to launch a software product. Users should enjoy the interaction with your app or website and clearly understand why they should choose your platform instead of what your competitors offer.
At Geomotiv, we do our best to help you create software products that can win users’ hearts at first glance. With immense expertise in building eCommerce websites and a rich tech stack, we can develop products that meet all the set requirements. Just contact us to learn more.
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